178 CREDIT 



religion. At the small town of Levis he organized among laboring 

 men and farmers his first credit union, or "La Caisse Populaire de 

 Levis" as it is called there. The. success of this first experiment 

 caused the idea to spread throughout all French Canada, so that 

 in less than five years 154 similar cooperative banks had been 

 formed in other parishes. The total turnover in the first 16 years 

 was $3,519,123.84 with gross profits amounting to $107,719.05, 

 and a total working expense of $8,832. The working men and 

 farmers choose their own management, provide all the funds them- 

 selves, loan the money to them- 

 selves, and in most cases their 

 honor alone is the main security. 

 The Credit Union. The suc- 

 cess with cooperative credit in 

 Quebec led first Massachusetts 

 and then other American States 

 to try to introduce this Canadian 

 system under the name of Credit 

 Union. But as usually happens, 

 the taking over of a foreign sys- 

 tem did not prove very successful. 

 Massachusetts set the example 

 (in 1909), being followed promptly 

 by eight other States, as follows: 

 Texas (1913), Wisconsin (1913), 

 New York (1914), Rhode Island 

 (1914), North Carolina, Utah, 



FIG. 33. Alphonse Desjardins, father of South Carolina, Oregon all four 



in 1915. As these lines are being 



written (1920), Massachusetts has nearly 60 credit unions; New- 

 York, 40; North Carolina, 30; Rhode Island, 1; and the other 

 five States none. The credit unions in Massachusetts and New 

 York are almost wholly in cities, and hence have no significance 

 for agriculture. In North Carolina, however, the credit union 

 is largely rural, and hence constitutes agricultural cooperative 

 credit. For our purpose, then, we will analyze in detail the North 

 Carolina system. 



North Carolina Method. The first financial statement issued 

 by the Credit Unions of North Carolina appeared in March, 1916. 

 One year later a second statement was issued, making a comparison 

 of conditions at the two dates, and showing one year's growth. 

 The number of credit unions grew from 6 to 14; the membership 



